Number Of Rabid Wild Animals Hits 25-year High In Lake County

TAVARES — The number of wild animals tested positive for rabies in Lake County is at 25-year high, and officials are warning residents to be extra careful of animals acting strangely.

The Lake County Health Department recovered a rabid raccoon last week, the 11th wild animal to test positive so far this year.

Environmental health director Russell Melling on Monday urged people to steer clear of wild and free-roaming domestic animals. Melling also pressed residents to vaccinate pets against the rabies virus.

''We thought we really needed to do something to make people aware that it is much higher than normal,'' he said.

The animals testing positive for rabies, mainly raccoons and foxes, are not grouped in any particular region of the county, he said.

''The potential exists to find them about anywhere in the county,'' he said.

The rabies virus can be transmitted to humans or animals by bites or scratches. That type of direct contact with an unknown animal should be reported to the health department, officials said.

Melling said the Lake County increase may be caused by natural cycles in the occurrence of the virus. Also, he said, more residents may be brushing up against the infected animals than in the past because of growth in the county.

The average number of positive animal rabies cases in Lake County hovers between two and five each year, Melling said.

He said Marion and Orange counties are also reporting an unusually higher number of cases. Sumter County appears to be fortunate, though, a health official there said. There have been no rabies-infected animals recovered in Sumter.

''We have just as many rabid animals here as Lake County does,'' environmental supervisor Warren Maddox said Monday. ''It's just a matter of luck no one's tangled with one of them here.''